


Waiting on You

by trevorisscreaming



Series: Tumblr Requests [5]
Category: Newsies (1992), Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, High School, M/M, Modern Era, Romantic Soulmates, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-28
Updated: 2018-10-28
Packaged: 2019-08-09 03:23:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16442057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trevorisscreaming/pseuds/trevorisscreaming
Summary: Another javid oneshot as requested, this time a soulmate AU! Never written one before so I hope it's okay.In this AU symbols for an activity your soulmate does or something they face that day appears on your body. The day you two cross for the first time the images become much larger and they match each other.





	Waiting on You

David was absolutely not interested in meeting his so called soulmate.

As a child he could hardly make sense of the mystery person’s life. All of his peers seemed to have lucked out with relatively normal soulmates, the spots where the images appeared showed books or desks or swing sets, implying they attended school or went to parks with their families. Sometimes his showed normal kid stuff, but most of the time it was scary and confusing. There were lots of moving vans. David figured he would never have to meet the person anyway since they never seemed to stay in one spot very long.

-

Jack wanted nothing more in the world than to meet his soulmate.

While he was bounced around from school to school, town to town, family member to family member, the picture on his wrist stayed consistent. His soulmate went to school, got perfect grades, and stayed out of trouble. He celebrated lots of holidays and birthdays and seemed to have peace. Jack wished he didn’t have to wait. He wanted to be a part of that now. But he held onto the hope that they would meet someday. They would have to; it was destiny. Then maybe he could have peace, too.

–

David sighed as he tugged his shirt down over the ever-changing picture on his ribs. Today, the fool that haunted his dreams was going to break a bone. This was the third time, with the previous time being only less than year ago. He wished they could meet already so he could do something to stop this disaster of a kid. Whoever they were.

-

Jack sighed as he lay in the hospital bed, waiting for the news he already knew: his leg was definitely broken. There wasn’t supposed to be bending or popping noises where there were no joints. He stared at the small stack of books depicted on his wrist. His soulmate was at school being normal and probably doing great.

–

David convinced himself that if he ever did meet his soulmate, they would think he was the most boring boy on the planet. He thought that of himself. Surely such an adventurous, busy person would, too.

-

Jack fretted over the normalcy and functionality of his soulmate. Weren’t soulmates supposed to like each other? This person was going to hate him. He was a mess by comparison.

–

David woke up yawning and stretching like any other day, dreading the woes of compulsory education but being driven to succeed nonetheless. He slumped forward, reaching behind his head to pull off the old worn out tee shirt he slept in.

When he looked down at the constantly updating image out of absent minded curiosity, he gasped. His side was covered in branching designs of swirls and hearts. They spanned from his hipbone up under his armpit. There were colors that had never been there before, the typical black outlines replaced deep purples and bright reds that stood out. He stood and rushed to his closet, quickly covering it with a shirt. His heart pounded.

Today was the day.

-

Jack reached out to snooze his alarm like he always did. On the third time, when he actually bothered to open his eyes, he jolted upright at the sight before him. New, brilliant colors stained his arm.

He turned his arm this way and that, examining the valentine-card-esque shapes and vine-like patterns spreading from his wrist to his shoulder. When the pictures spread from their usual spot, that was supposed to mean…

Well, he had better dress well today.

-

David’s rushed panic caused him to look about twenty times worse than he usually did. First impressions were everything, he knew that, but he didn’t want to clue in anyone in his family in about it until he was ready to tell them. If he tried to put his best foot forward, they would ask questions, and damn if David wasn’t a terrible liar.

So, he made it past them, presenting himself a little messier than usual to go undetected, and made his way to school.

What did this mean? Would his soulmate be a random stranger on the street? Were they a student at his school? Had he already unknowingly seen them? Had they already unknowingly seem him?

-

Jack put on everything in his closet before giving up and deciding to not take it so seriously. If they were really meant to be, as it appeared to be determined, he should probably put forth his most honest self to avoid any confusion. It would be fine. Or it wouldn’t.

“Que sera sera,” Jack muttered to his reflection.

He stood there for too long checking himself out, only being disturbed from his fixation when the additional warning alarm he set to keep himself in check went off. He cursed and rushed to silence it. That alarm was to signify it was time to leave and he hadn’t finished getting ready.

Looked like food wasn’t happening for him today. He slung his bag over his shoulder and bolted out the door in a hurry, not wanting to miss the bus again.

It was pulling away from the corner as he stepped out on the porch. He cringed as he slowly turned and reentered his home, creeping up to the door of his only other option. Taking a deep breath, he knocked carefully.

“Miss Medda?”

“Boy, if you’re about to tell me that you missed your bus again, I’m gonna strap you on top of the car,” She groaned from within her room.

“I love you!” He replied.

“Jack Kelly!”

Jack stepped back to make way for her to exit her room. When the door opened he gave the biggest, sweetest smile he could muster up. She was entirely unconvinced. She stared him down for a long moment with her hands on her hips, the look that could strike fear in any man’s heart on her face. Jack slowly melted into staring at the floor, squirming under her silent stare.

“Go get in the car,” She sighed.

“Oh boy, not on it?” Jack joked.

“Don’t test me. I’m still considering it,” Medda said as she shooed him towards the door.

Feeling his life flash before his eyes in the moments before he knocked on her door aside, Jack enjoyed the mornings they spent together. When she noticed his arm, she was excited for him. They blasted music a little too loudly for the comfort of the public and laughed at each other for messing up the words.

“All right, now get out of my car,” Medda said when she pulled up to the front of Jack’s school.

“You’re the best mom ever,” He said, leaning across the center to hug her around the shoulders.

“Good luck today, sweetheart!” She called after him when he closed his door.

Jack waved until she drove away, excitedly turning around. He knew he should just proceed normally, but he felt obligated to do something. As he began walking towards the bench he usually sat on while waiting for the bell, he couldn’t help but look all around, expecting something to happen.

He made it to the bench without incident and pulled his sketchbook out of his bag. He flipped to a blank page and tapped his pencil against the top of it, scanning his mind for ideas.

 

David avoided his friends, wanting time to collect his thoughts and hopefully get this whole facing his destiny thing out of the way as soon as possible. He wandered aimlessly, ending up on the opposite side of campus than where his first class was.

He headed toward the art building, one of the few that was unlocked before school hours, with the intent to go inside and check out if there was anything new in the student displays. He would only have a few minutes, but it would calm him down.

There was a student sitting on the bench outside the building, looking down at a sketchbook. The pattern up his arm was unmistakably similar to the one on David’s side. He froze where he stood, staring. Should he say something? What if it was a coincidence? Surely multiple pairs of soulmates met every day, there was no real way to be sure this one was his.

Feeling eyes on him, Jack lifted his head from the lazy patterns he’d been doodling. There was a boy standing a few feet away from him, staring right at him and looking terrified. He tilted his head.

“You okay over there?” he asked.

The boy cleared his throat and slowly closed the distance between them.

“I’m sorry, but you, ah. Your arm,” He said, pointing.

Jack perked up. “What about it?”

“Well, today’s supposed to be my day and I- it could be a coincidence, but if you don’t mind, I’d like to compare.”

He set the books and backpack he was holding on the bench next to Jack and reached for the hem of his shirt, lifting it slowly to reveal a near-identical pattern covering his ribs. Jack couldn’t stop smiling. He held his arm out, and though the colors looked different on their skin tones, there was no denying it.

“You got a name?” Jack asked, scooting away a little to make room.

“It’s uh, David,” He said as he lifted his things and hesitantly sat beside Jack.

“I’m Jack,” Jack replied. “Damn, have I been waiting for this.”

“Of course you have, that’s kind of how it works,” David said.

“Oh, okay, smartass,” Jack grinned.

David laughed. “You’ve… been busy.”

Jack shrugged. “You could say that.”

“Weird question to lead with but, which bones did you break?”

“First my wrist, then my ribs, then my leg. I can tell ya all the stories if you want,” Jack said.

David smiled and nodded. “I’d like that.”

“Then you can tell me about your wonderful family.”

“You could come see them yourself, if you’d like. My sister already met her soulmate, so my mom badgers me about it all the time,” David said. “But anyway, how did you break your wrist? I was in the fifth grade.”

“Hey, me too! Guess we’re the same,” Jack said. “All right, so I’m on the playground, and there’s this kid that thinks he’s the boss of everyone. Which doesn’t work at all, because clearly I’m the boss of everyone. He’s always showin’ me up, we turn everything into a competition, ya know? One day it just so happened we were racing to climb some equipment, and I got a little over confident….”

**Author's Note:**

> Requests are open! Go send me one or talk to me in general on tumblr @hopeful-broadwaybaby!!


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